Evolving The Graph Network’s Indexing Incentives
Over the past few years, The Graph has grown from an early-stage vision into the most widely adopted decentralized indexing protocol in web3. With hundreds of dapps across dozens of chains relying on Subgraphs to power their applications, the protocol has successfully demonstrated its resilience and technical maturity. As the industry’s familiarity with The Graph technology deepens, so must the approach to sustaining and scaling the network.
From Bootstrapping to Strategic Sustainability
Until now, indexing rewards — funded through protocol issuance — have served as a bootstrap mechanism, enabling support for a wide range of projects and chains regardless of their usage levels. This helped establish a robust foundation of infrastructure and experimentation.
As The Graph continues to grow and mature, its approach to supporting the ecosystem is evolving to reflect current network dynamics. Going forward, indexing rewards will be prioritized for chains and projects that demonstrate clear, sustained usage through consistent query volume and active developer engagement. This shift is intended to ensure that protocol incentives are used where they can deliver the greatest long-term impact for the entire ecosystem. This adjustment ensures that protocol incentives are aligned with the long-term health of the network and that Indexers are focused on serving the most widely used data sources.